Push-up exercises, wherein a person performs exercises by extending his or her arms outward using the body's weight as the primary resistance, have several therapeutic and other health and fitness benefits. Push-up exercises are particularly suited to increasing strength and benefiting the cardiovascular system.
Several devices have been used to facilitate the performance of push-up exercises. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,525 to Rozenblad, U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,106 to Shadford, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,806 to Wheeler, disclose various devices for supporting one or more hand grips on a floor or other flat planar surface.
The above devices are somewhat limited in that they place the hand grips a fixed distance from the floor during exercise. Many people, however, are not strong enough to do regular push-ups (i.e., where the hands and the feet are placed roughly along the same plane, the floor). The difficulty of performing a push-up exercise decreases as the angle of the body to the floor increases, for instance, when the hands are inclined relative to the floor and to the feet. It is often beneficial to decrease the level of difficulty of push-up exercises, since many people lack the strength to do standard push-up exercises. This may occur for example because of a previous injury. Alternatively, it may be beneficial to decrease the level of difficulty so that the number of repetitions may be increased, thereby providing a better overall workout.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,573 to Johannson discloses an exercise apparatus which has three hand grips having different elevations which are individually selectable to vary the degree of difficulty of push-up exercises. The Johannson device rests on a floor and is rotatable to a plurality of positions. While this device allows for different levels of difficulty, the range of difficulties that may be provided by this device is rather limited unless the device is built to an unduly and inconveniently large size.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,897 to Agan provides an exercise apparatus which relies on a non-planar surface other than a floor to enable a user to perform inclined push-up exercises. The Agan device includes angled brackets which are configured to conform to an edge of an object. However, the degree of difficulty which may be selected using this device is dependent upon whatever appropriate surfaces are accessible to a user. In certain circumstances, therefore, the range of difficulty levels which may be selected may be limited. Further, the Agan device is configured to receive an edge of an object in such a manner that the device may rock during normal exercise. Rocking during exercise tends to make the exercise more difficult and less enjoyable, while increasing the risk that the exercise device will become dislodged from the object upon which it is placed, thereby resulting in an injury to the user.
Therefore, a need exists for a device for facilitating the performance of push-up exercises over a wide range of difficulty levels. In particular, a need exists for a device which is capable of securely supporting hand grips at a plurality of elevations so that different types of users and different levels of strength may be accommodated for by a single exercise device.